1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to an X-ray imaging apparatus for obtaining an X-ray image by transmitting X-rays through an object, specifically, through breasts, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An X-ray imaging apparatus acquires an image of an object by irradiating X-rays onto the object and detecting X-rays transmitted through the object. The X-ray imaging apparatus visualizes the inside structure of an object according to the intensities or strengths of X-rays transmitted through the object, based on a fact that X-rays show different transmission characteristics depending on the properties of materials constituting an object.
An X-ray imaging apparatus designed to acquire X-ray images of breasts has structural characteristics that are different from those of other X-ray imaging apparatuses, because mammography must be performed after a breast is flattened in order to acquire an X-ray image which accurately shows the inner structure of the breasts. In order to do so, a breast is positioned on the upper part of a bucky and pressed by the pressure paddle.
In mammography, generally, both a cranio-caudal view and a mediolateral oblique view of breasts are acquired. In the mediolateral oblique view, the left and right breasts can be distinguished by inclined directions of the breasts, but, in the cranio-caudal view, distinguishing between left and right breasts is difficult. Accordingly, an operator needs to input information indicating left and right breasts before mammography. In this case, the operator may input wrong information or may forget inputting information indicating left and right breasts, which may result in misdiagnosis or in taking additional X-ray images.